Change Can Be Good
by hamilkm
Summary: This picks up where Rachel’s Secret left off and carries us through major changes in Rachel and Mandy’s lives
1. Chapter 1

Summary: This picks up where Rachel's Secret left off and carries us through major changes in Rachel and Mandy's lives.

Ross and Rachel have five kids and live in Westchester: Mandy(18, Rachel's daughter, see Rachel's Secret), Emma (6), Caleb (3), Isabella (Bella, 18 months), Ben (15) also lives with Ross and Rachel

Monica and Chandler have Jack and Erica (5) and still live in Westchester

Phoebe and Mike have a little girl, Sky (4) and still live in the city

Joey is still in LA and still acting

Disclaimer: I do not own Friends, but Mandy is mine!

Author's note: Here is the sequel to Rachel's Secret that I promised! If you haven't read that story, you may want to read it before reading this one. I'm going out of town this weekend, so it will be next week before an update! Enjoy!

May 2009

Rachel leaned back in her lounge chair on the deck of the cruise ship and sighed. It was her last day of her vacation with Mandy and Mandy's best friend Kristie. She and Mandy were then flying to New York where Rachel had to be back at work on Monday morning, and Mandy was starting her summer internship at her mom's office. She looked over at her daughter who looked identical to Rachel when she was eighteen (without the huge nose) and sighed again. She wished her body still looked like that! Not that Rachel wasn't in great shape, but after 3 babies in the last six years her stomach had a little pudge that would not go away. Bikinis were also out of the question now, after the scar left from Bella's emergency C-section, but she figured a 38 year old mom probably shouldn't be wearing a bikini anyways. Rachel then began to think of her children back home. Ben had left while Rachel was gone to go spend the summer with his moms, so he wouldn't even be home when she got back. Emma was probably starting to drive her daddy crazy with her constant talking and continuous energy. Caleb had probably already destroyed the house and was more than likely running wild. Little Bella was a mommy's girl and was probably having a difficult time with her mom being gone. Even though Rachel had needed this vacation really badly, she did really miss her kids.

Mandy broke Rachel out of her daydream by asking, "So, are you ready to get home tomorrow?"

"Well," began Rachel, "I really miss Ross and the kids, but I could probably stand another week or two of vacation! I definitely don't want to start back to work on Monday morning."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Mandy. "I can't believe that as of tomorrow, I will officially be a resident of New York. I'm still in shock that mom and dad are letting me go that far away from home."

"I have a feeling you wouldn't be getting to move up here and work during the summer if you weren't staying at our house," said Rachel.

"You're right," replied Mandy. "I'm still kind of in shock that they are actually letting me live in a dorm starting in the fall."

"They're probably only doing that because you are living with me," Kristie said with a laugh.

"Once again, that is correct," said Mandy. "I really think my parents believe that I can't make it out on my own!" They all three laughed at this because they all knew it was very true!

"Oh Mandy," said Rachel, "I'm not going to be able to eat lunch with you on Monday because I have a doctor's appointment during my lunch hour."  
"Is something wrong?" asked Mandy.

"No," started Rachel, "I'm just going to my doctor to see about scheduling a date to have my tubes tied."

"Have you told Ross that you want to have this done yet?" asked Mandy.

"Not yet," said Rachel. "But, I'm sure he won't care! I mean he doesn't want any more children either, and since I can't take the pill because I have allergic reactions to it, this is our best option. I mean, we've had two kids while using condoms and its not like Ross would ever have a vasectomy!"

"I still can't believe you got pregnant twice while using a condom," said Mandy. "How is that even possible?"

"Well, technically with Bella we forgot to use one, but with my tubes tied we won't have to worry about forgetting again!" said Rachel.

"I think this could be the weirdest conversation I've ever heard between a mother and a daughter," said Kristie.

"Well," began Mandy, "Rachel and I have a very unique relationship. We're almost more like friends."

"Yeah, and it'll stay that way until you do something bad!" said Rachel.

"Hey, you don't have to worry about me. I'm not you!" exclaimed Mandy.

"Let's just wait until after your first year of college to talk," Rachel said with a grin.

After laying out for a little while longer, Rachel, Mandy and Kristie went in and got ready for dinner. After dinner they went to the karaoke bar on the ship and had some fun on their last night of vacation!

Mandy and Rachel wearily got off the plane the next night. They were finally in New York. Mandy's parents were coming up in August with the rest of her stuff to move into the dorm, so for now all she had was two suitcases full of clothes for her summer internship. As they rode the escalator down to baggage claim, Rachel could already hear her children. Emma was asking Ross a million questions about how the bags got from the plane and onto the conveyor belt. Caleb was yelling "hi-yah" as he worked on his karate moves, and Bella was whimpering in her daddy's arms. All this activity stopped the instant they saw their mother step off of the escalator. Rachel was almost knocked over from the force of all three of them running to her! She gave each one of them a big hug and a kiss. Bella then latched onto her and wouldn't let go! Ross was eventually able to get to Rachel and give her a hug and a kiss. He then whispered in her ear, "How about I give you a really nice welcome when we get home?"

"That sounds wonderful," Rachel whispered back.

Once they got home, it took forever to get the kids in the bed because they were all excited to have Rachel home. It was okay though since the next day was Sunday and they could all sleep in until time to go eat lunch at Monica and Chandler's. Once Ross and Rachel were alone in their bedroom, Rachel contemplated talking to Ross about having her tubes tied, but decided to instead let Ross welcome her home. That discussion could wait until tomorrow. They were both so excited to see each other that neither one realized that they once again forgot the condom!

Please read and review! I hope you enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note: Thanks so much for all of the great reviews. I'm really glad everyone is enjoying the sequel! Please continue to review!

Mandy didn't wake up until 10 AM the next morning. She rolled over and looked at the clock. Wow! This was the latest she had ever gotten to sleep at Ross and Rachel's. That was probably because she normally slept on the extra twin bed in Emma's room, which until the birth of Bella had been the playroom, but since Ben was in California for the summer, she was staying in his room. Her younger brother and sisters were always up by 8 AM, no matter what. She listened and could hear the voices of her family drifting up from downstairs. Mandy could also smell the faint scent of pancakes. Rachel was definitely not much of a cook, but she had really perfected pancakes! Mandy crawled out of bed and went downstairs. When she got to the kitchen, she saw Ross, Rachel, Emma, Caleb, and Bella in her high chair all around the table eating pancakes.

"Hey, did you sleep okay?" asked Rachel.

"Yeah, I slept great!" answered Mandy.

"Great, well sit down and eat. We're not going to Monica's until 2, so we have plenty of time," said Rachel.

After breakfast everyone took showers and got ready to go eat lunch at Monica and Chandler's. It always took Rachel a couple of hours to get herself and the three little kids ready. Mandy offered to give Bella her bath while Rachel took a shower. Mandy carefully washed Bella's dark brown curls. Bella was an incredibly gorgeous baby. She had Ross's dark brown curls and Rachel's big blue eyes. Mandy always thought that Bella looked a lot like her Aunt Monica. When Mandy had finished giving Bella her bath and getting her dressed, Emma came and asked her to fix her hair. "Please Mandy," said Emma. "My mommy pulls too much when she fixes my hair. You do a much better job!"

"Okay," Mandy sighed, "I'll do it really quickly because I still have to take a shower!" Mandy took the brush and slowly brushed Emma's dirty blonde hair that was the exact same color as Rachel's and Mandy's. Emma could sometimes be annoying, but Mandy loved her to death. Emma was going to be the true golden child of the Geller family: she had her mother's looks and personality but she had her father's brain. Ever since Mandy's very first visit a little over three years ago, Emma and Mandy had shared a true sister-like bond. "Okay, all done!" said Mandy. Emma then ran off to get dressed as Mandy hopped into the shower.

As Mandy finished getting ready she heard little feet running up and down the hallway. She then heard Rachel yelling for Caleb to please come and put his shoes on. Mandy quietly crept out of her bedroom door and jumped in front of Caleb, catching the little boy in her arms. Caleb shrieked with laughter as Mandy held him up and pretended to fly him down the hallway. She flew him right into his room and sat him down on his new big boy bed, as Rachel came up from behind and started putting on his shoes. "Thanks Mandy," said Rachel. "I don't know what I'm going to do with this little guy, I guess I'm just going to have to tickle him into shape!" Rachel then lifted up Caleb's shirt and began to tickle his little stomach. Caleb was laughing so hard that his huge brown, puppy-dog eyes filled with tears. Mandy then grabbed Caleb and whispered something into his ear. The brother and sister then teamed up and began to tickle Rachel. All three were laughing so hard that Ross came into the room to see what was going on. He also started laughing at the site of his wife sprawled out on Caleb's bed with Caleb just tickeling away while Mandy held her down. "Okay guys! Enough!" yelled Rachel with laughter. Rachel then got off the bed and went into the master bedroom to finish getting ready. "Come on Caleb, let's go down stairs and watch some cartoons while mommy and daddy finish getting ready," said Mandy. Caleb enthusiastically agreed.

When everyone was finally ready, they all loaded up into Ross and Rachel's Expedition and headed two blocks down the street to Monica and Chandler's house. When they walked into the front door Mandy looked around in awe as she always did. It had always amazed her how even with the twins, Monica somehow managed to keep a perfect house. Rachel's house wasn't excessively messy or anything, but with at least four kids in the house at all times, things tended to get a little cluttered. Monica gave Mandy a huge hug. "Congratulations on graduation, honey!" said Monica.

"Thank you," replied Mandy.

"I want to hear all about this cruise later too," added Monica. "I hope you kept your mom out of trouble."

"Ha, ha," said Rachel as she walked into the door with Bella in her arms.

"Well, I mean, you do tend to do crazy things when you're on vacation. I mean think about Vegas," said Monica.

"Okay, point taken, but I behaved myself very well this trip," said Rachel as she shifted Bella into her other arm. At this point Emma and Caleb came running in the door.

"Hey guys!" said Monica.

"Hey Aunt Monica," replied Emma. "Where's Erica?"

"She's up in her room waiting for you," said Monica as Emma took off up the stairs.

"Jack?" asked Caleb.

"He's upstairs too, sweetie," answered Monica as she tousled his dark brown hair.

"Is Pheeb's coming?" asked Ross as he shut the door behind him.

"No, she called this morning and cancelled," said Monica. "She said Sky had a bad ear infection."

"Oh no, I hope she's okay," said Rachel. "I haven't seen Phoebe in forever. Maybe she'll be able to meet me for lunch one day this week. I'll have to call and ask."

"Why are we all standing in the door?" asked Chandler as he walked in from the living room.

"We're not," Monica said. "We're going to eat lunch now. Kids come eat!"

After lunch was over the Emma, Erica, Jack, and Caleb all went upstairs to play. Rachel put Bella down for a nap. Ross and Chandler wanted to watch some game on tv, so Monica, Rachel, and Mandy sat at the kitchen table to talk.

"So how was the cruise," asked Monica.

"It was great," answered Rachel. "I really needed a vacation! I love my kids, but they can just be so much sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand," said Monica. "Some days I just feel like I may go insane, and I only have two! I mean, you have five!"

"Yeah, but Mandy doesn't live here all the time, and Ben isn't a lot of trouble yet. I know it's coming soon though. I mean, he'll be in tenth grade next year," said Rachel.

"I can't believe he's that old! It seems like yesterday that he was born," exclaimed Monica.

"I know what you mean! I also can't believe that Emma will be in first grade this year. Are you ready for the twins to start kindergarten?" Rachel asked.

"I'm sad that they're growing up, but it will be nice to have them in school. I can go back to working some days now and not as many nights," answered Monica.

"Yeah, I still have four years before that will happen," said Rachel.

"You mean, you're not having anymore?" asked Monica with a laugh.

"Gosh no!" exclaimed Rachel. "I actually have an appointment with Dr. Long tomorrow to see about getting my tubes tied."

"Is Ross okay with that?" asked Monica.

"Oh, he doesn't know yet!" said Mandy.

"Hey!" said Rachel. "I could have told him last night!"  
"Well did you?" asked Mandy.

"No," muttered Rachel.

"I can't believe you're going to schedule a surgery like this without even asking Ross!" exclaimed Monica.

"For your information, I am planning on talking to him tonight," Rachel spat back. "I know he'll be okay with it though, because he doesn't want anymore kids either."

"Whatever you say, but just talk to him tonight Rach. He deserves to know what is going on," said Monica.

"I will!" said Rachel. "Don't worry!"

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. I know it didn't carry the plot much further, but I really wanted you to have a chance to get to know Ross and Rachel's kids! Please Review!


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: I know this is the second update in one night, but I decided to write more while I had the time because during the week free time is hard to come by! I hope you are still enjoying this.

It was now 10 o'clock and Rachel still had not had a chance to tell Ross about her doctor's appointment the next day. She and Ross had gotten all of the kids in bed and were now getting ready to go to bed themselves. Rachel had to get up early the next morning and go into work. "Honey," started Rachel. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, sweetheart," answered Ross. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, um, you see the thing is that," started Rachel.

"What is it?" asked Ross.

"Well, I kinda have a doctor's appointment tomorrow," said Rachel.

"What's wrong? Are you sick?" Ross said as panic began to set in.

"No, I'm not sick. It's nothing like that," said Rachel. "I'm just thinking about maybe having my tubes tied."

"Thinking about it!" exclaimed Ross. "It sounds to me like you've already made up your mind!"

"No Ross," said Rachel. "I haven't scheduled anything yet. I'm just going tomorrow to talk to Dr. Long about it, but if you don't want me to have it done then I won't."

"Rach, honey, it's not that I don't want you to have it done, I just wish that we had sat down and talked about it before you made a doctor's appointment," said Ross.

"Well, I mean, what is there to talk about?" asked Rachel. "We said after Bella was born that we didn't want any more kids, and since I can't take birth control, I just thought this was a good option."

"Sure, I agree," said Ross. "I just really want you to think about this. This is surgery, and it's permanent. If you have this done, we can never have another child."

"Ross, I know all of that! I mean counting Ben and Mandy, we have five kids," said Rachel. "I don't want anymore kids. There is absolutely no way that I could handle another baby! I mean, some days I think I'm going to have a nervous break-down from the ones we have."

"Okay, honey, as long as you're sure," replied Ross.

"You don't want another one, do you?" asked Rachel.

"No, I mean four kids living at home is enough. I mean, we don't even have room for another child," said Ross. "I just wanted to make sure that you really want to have surgery. Are you sure you want to go through all of that?"

"That's why I'm going tomorrow," answered Rachel. "I'm going to talk to Dr. Long about how complicated of a surgery it is. Then I may schedule one if she thinks it's a good idea."

"Okay, well do you want me to go with you?" asked Ross. "I mean, I might could get my mom or Monica to watch the kids."

"No honey, I'll just go," said Rachel. "You stay here with the kids. I'll let you know what she says, and we'll decide."

"Okay, I love you," said Ross as he leaned in and gave Rachel a sweet kiss.

"Love you too," replied Rachel as she snuggled into her husband's arms and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning Rachel and Mandy got up early and got ready for work. Rachel knew it was going to be a long day because not only did she have to catch up from a week's vacation, it was also the new summer interns' first day of work. Mandy had interned at Louis Vuitton last year and had loved it. She knew she had only gotten the internship because of her mother (being the new vice president's daughter helped a little), but she had earned her position this year. Usually the interns were not paid; they were just given experience. If an intern did an exceptional job they could be asked back the next summer in a paid position. This usually led to a job after college graduation. Mandy had impressed the designer she worked under last summer so much that she had been recommended for a paid position.

When they got to the office, Rachel headed down to her office while Mandy went to the intern orientation in the conference room. Even though she already knew everything she needed to know for her job, she still had to go through the orientation. The orientation ended with a meeting with the Vice-President for the East Coast, or Mandy's mom. After they had toured the building and had been informed of what their duties would be, all twelve of them were led to the waiting room outside Rachel's office. Rachel's secretary said that she would be with them in a minute. Mandy looked around at all the other interns. She only recognized one other girl from last summer. All of the others were new faces. She listened to what one guy, whose name she thought was Mat, tell the other interns what he had heard about their boss. "I heard that when she calls us all in there in a minute that if she doesn't like what you're wearing, she will fire you right on the spot."

Mandy stifled back a laugh and looked at the girl, Sarah, who had worked there last year. They both knew this was far from the truth.

Another girl, whose name Mandy didn't know, then said, "I also heard that she won't even talk to you if you're an intern. I heard that she will just pretend like you're not even there."

"Yeah," said a voice from behind them, "I heard that she likes to lock the interns up in the janitor's closet for fun."

Mandy recognized the voice immediately and tried very hard not to laugh as she turned and faced her mom.

"I'm Rachel Geller, vice-president of Louis Vuitton East Coast division, and your new boss," started Rachel. "Also, you in the black shirt, I don't like what you're wearing so go home and don't come back." The intern looked at Rachel in shock and got up to leave.

"Wait," said Rachel, no longer able to contain her laughter, "I'm just kidding! Come back and sit down. It's nice to see you guys heard all those scary rumors that I tried to spread about myself. I assure you that none of them are true! My office is always open to any of you for whatever reason. I'm going to give you all your assignments, then when you come back from lunch report to whomever you are going to be working under. It's great to meet you all." Rachel then handed out their assignments and walked into her office.

Mandy followed Rachel into her office.

"Good job scaring them all," said Mandy.

"Hey just doing my job," answered Rachel.

"So are you on your way to the doctor?" asked Mandy.

"Yeah, I'm going right now," said Rachel. "Sorry that I can't eat lunch with you on your first day, but I really need to go see about this."

"No problem!" said Mandy. "I'll see you when I get off at five."

Rachel then left and walked the two blocks to the doctor's office. Dr, Long called her back into her office almost as soon as she got there.

"So Rachel," said Dr. Long, "You want to have your tubes tied."

"Yes," answered Rachel. "I just wanted to know how complicated the surgery is and exactly how painful it is!"

"Well," started Dr. Long, "It's a pretty simple procedure. We simple go in with a laser and burn the ends of your tubes which will leave you unable to get pregnant. You would have to be put to sleep, but the pain is minimal. If you had the procedure done on a Thursday you would be able to return to work on Monday."

"So would it be something you would recommend for me?" asked Rachel.

"Since you are unable to take conventional birth control, as long as you are positive you don't want another child, I believe it would be a very good thing for you," answered Dr. Long.

"Well, that's all I need to know," said Rachel. "I want to have it done, preferably pretty soon while my husband is out of school for the summer."  
"How about three weeks from this Thursday?" asked Dr. Long.

"That sounds great!" answered Rachel.

Please Read and Review!


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: I know this is really soon for another update, but this week is kind of slow. After this week things are going to be pretty crazy for like a month, so I thought I would write while I had time.

_Three Weeks Later:_

"Hey Rachel, are you ready for lunch?" asked Mandy.

"Yeah, but do you mind if we run by my doctor's office really quick first?" said Rachel.

"No problem, but why do we need to go by the doctor's office?" answered Mandy.

"Oh, I just have to go and get some blood work done before my surgery on Thursday. It shouldn't take but a minute then we can go eat," said Rachel.

After getting Rachel's blood work done, Mandy and Rachel walked to a little pizza place close to the office. They both ordered a slice of pizza and a side salad.

"Are you sure you don't mind watching the kids tonight?" Rachel asked Mandy.

"Not at all, I mean, it's not like I actually have a life here or anything. I don't know a soul here!" said Mandy.

"That'll change when school starts in August. Then you'll be so busy that I'll be lucky to see you once a month," Rachel said.

"No, you'll see me at least once a week because I have to have someone to do my laundry for me!" said Mandy with a laugh.

"Well then you better start being really nice to Ross because laundry is on his list," said Rachel laughing out loud.

"What exactly is on your list?" Mandy asked.

"Um, just the kids!" said Rachel.

"Yeah, I think that sounds like a full list!" Mandy said still laughing.

"Are you sure you can handle them tonight?" asked Rachel.

"Yes, I'm sure!" exclaimed Mandy. "You and Ross just go and have a nice night out. You guys haven't been out alone since your anniversary which was over a month ago."

"Yeah, we have some big plans for tonight because after I have my surgery on Thursday we won't be able to do ANYTHING for a while," said Rachel with a sly grin.

"Sometimes I think you must forget that I'm your daughter, not your friend! I don't want to hear stuff like that," Mandy said with a disgusted look on her face.

"Okay, no more sex talk, I promise!" said Rachel. "Now you're not having sex are you?"

"Rachel," sighed Mandy. "If you must know, no, I'm not having sex, and I don't intend on having sex until I'm in a committed relationship with someone I want to be with. You can say that I've learned a little something from your mistakes."

"Well, I'm glad someone got to learn from all of the stupid decisions I've made in my life," said Rachel. "I don't regret those decisions because they gave me you and Emma, but they are not choices that I want my daughters to make."

"Yeah, I just really want to have my first child after I'm married to the man I want to be with," said Mandy.

"That's exactly what I want for you, Emma, and Bella. It's just so much easier that way," answered Rachel.

Later that night, Ross and Rachel left to go on their date while Mandy stayed home with the kids. Ross had gotten Monica to reserve them the best table at Javu. They were then going to go to a movie and come home and have a little fun of their own. They usually didn't do date nights on a Monday, but since Rachel was having surgery on Thursday they had used this past weekend as a family weekend. When they had finished dinner, Ross pulled a small box out of his jacket pocket. "Rach, I know that it's not a birthday or an anniversary or anything, and I know that this surgery is outpatient and you will be feeling better in a couple of days, but I still wanted to get you a little something. This is for being such a wonderful mother to our three children and for being such a wonderful step-mother to Ben. This is just for being you," said Ross.

Rachel took the package that Ross offered her and opened it. She gasped in shock at what lay inside. They were princess cut diamond earrings that matched her engagement ring. "Ross, you shouldn't have done this," said Rachel. "I mean, we can't afford this. We're supporting four kids!"

"Sweetie, I've been saving for them for a while, and I was just waiting on the perfect time to surprise you with them. I just thought this would be a great time because you weren't expecting anything," said Ross.

"Well, I am definitely surprised," said Rachel. "You will be getting a very nice thank you when we get home."

Back at Ross and Rachel's house, Mandy had finally gotten the kids to bed. She had ordered pizza for dinner, even though she had pizza for lunch; it was what the kids wanted. After dinner they had all settled on the couch and watched _Finding Nemo_ on DVD. Bella fell asleep in Mandy's arms about halfway through the movie, so Mandy went and put her in her crib. When the movie was over Emma and Caleb were still going strong. Mandy let them play for another half an hour then made them both go to bed. The only way she could get Caleb to go to bed was to let him sleep in Emma's room, so she tucked each of them into one of the twin beds, read them a story, and turned out the lights. She then went into her room and shut the door. She knew Ross and Rachel would probably want the house to themselves when they got home, so she got out her laptop, signed on instant messenger, and talked to her friends from back home. She was really beginning to miss home a lot. Last summer she hadn't felt this way because she knew she was going home in August, but when this summer was over she wasn't going back home, she was starting school here in New York. She decided the next day that she was going to talk to Rachel about taking a Friday off of work and flying home for a long weekend. She really missed her parents and her friends!

The next morning Rachel was sitting in her office at work still thinking about the night before and how wonderful Ross was when the phone rang. "Rachel Geller," she said into the receiver.

"Hello, Rachel, this is Dr. Long," said the voice on the other end. "I need to talk to you about something very interesting we found in your blood work yesterday."

"Okay, what is it?" asked Rachel as thoughts of things like cancer began to race through her brain.

"Well, I don't believe we are going to be able to perform that surgery on Thursday," said Dr. Long.

"Why not?" asked Rachel, who was really beginning to panic.

"Well, according to your blood work you're pregnant," answered Dr. Long.

"What!" screamed Rachel. "There must be some mistake, I can't be pregnant again. I mean, I'm getting my tubes tied so I won't be able to have anymore kids, so I can't be pregnant."

"Well, it seems like you are," said Dr. Long. "Why don't you come to my office when you get off of work today, and we'll do a sonogram and see if we can tell how far along you are, unless you want to wait and bring your husband in with you some time later this week?"

"No, I'll come today," said Rachel, still in shock. "I'll be there around 5:30 or so."

"Okay, see you then," said Dr. Long as she hung up the phone.

As soon as Rachel hung up the phone, she burst into tears. This couldn't be happening. How could she possibly be pregnant again! She and Ross always made sure to be so careful. Her mind then went back to the night she returned from her cruise. It must have happened then, she thought. She had no clue what she was going to do or how she was ever going to tell Ross. He had made it pretty clear a few weeks ago that he definitely didn't want any more children. She continued to cry into her hands in disbelief.

Mandy walked into her mom's office a few minutes later with plans to ask Rachel about flying home one weekend soon. She had totally forgotten to ask her on the way to work this morning. When she went into Rachel's office she found Rachel with her head down on her desk, sobbing very loudly.

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Mandy, "What's wrong?" She walked over to Rachel and put her arm around Rachel's shoulder.

"Well, I'm definitely not having that surgery on Thursday," Rachel said through her tears.

"Why not?" asked Mandy.

"Well, apparently they can't do it when you're pregnant," Rachel said as she began to cry even harder.

"You're pregnant?" asked Mandy with shock in her voice.

"Yep," replied Rachel. "I'm going to Dr. Long's after work today for a sonogram and to get my vitamins and stuff. You'll have to go with me, is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," answered Mandy, "but are you sure you don't want Ross to go with you?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," said Rachel. "I don't even know how or when I'm going to even tell Ross. I think I may just keep this between us for a while."

"Okay, whatever you want," said Mandy as she gave Rachel a comforting hug.

I hope you enjoyed! Please Review!


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Thanks so much to those of you who have been reviewing! Please continue to let me know if you are enjoying this story!

When Rachel and Mandy got off of work at five, they walked the two blocks to Dr. Long's office. Rachel got to go back to a room immediately because she was the last patient of the day. She had Mandy go back with her. Dr. Long came in after a couple of minutes and began to do Rachel's sonogram. Rachel winced a little when the cold jelly hit her stomach. She had forgotten just how cold it was! "Okay," said Dr. Long as the picture came up on thescreen, "here is your uterus, and right here is your baby. It appears that you are about 3 ½ weeks along so you should be due around the end of February."

"Wow," Rachel uttered in shock. She couldn't believe that she was actually pregnant again, but there was her baby. Tears began to fill her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.

"I'll be back in just a minute," said Dr. Long as she walked out of the room.

"Are you okay?" Mandy asked as she went and put her arm around Rachel.

"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Rachel. "These are actually happy tears. I'm still totally scared to death, but how can you not be happy when you see your child for the first time!"

"So where exactly is the baby?" asked Mandy.

"Oh, it's right here," said Rachel. She was an expert at finding the baby now!

Dr. Long came back into the room and gave Rachel a prescription for pre-natal vitamins and some pamphlets about pregnancy. "I know these probably aren't necessary," Dr. Long said as she handed the pamphlets to Rachel, "but we give them to everyone. Also, I know this wasn't a planned pregnancy, and you seemed pretty shocked and upset on the phone this morning, but try to relax and not worry because given your age and the fact that your last pregnancy was especially difficult you're going to have to take it easy this time around. Remember, minimal stress and minimal activity. Try to relax as much as you possibly can and try to eliminate all stress from your life. I'll see you back here in a month."

"Okay, thank you Dr. Long," replied Rachel.

When Rachel and Mandy were in Rachel's car on their way home, Mandy asked Rachel, "So do you want me to keep the kids again tonight so you can tell Ross about the new baby?"

"No, that's fine sweetie," replied Rachel. "I'm not really sure when I'm going to tell Ross. I may wait a week or two."

"Well you're going to have to give him some reason for not having that surgery on Thursday," said Mandy. "He's going to want some explanation."

"I'll just tell him that I changed my mind," said Rachel. "I'll just tell him that I didn't want to be put to sleep and have surgery. He'll be fine with that because honestly I don't think he was completely sold on the idea to start with."

"Are you sure you shouldn't just tell him about the baby now and get it over with?" asked Mandy.

"No, he made it pretty clear when we talked a few weeks ago that he didn't want any more kids," answered Rachel. "I figure if I give my self a couple of weeks to get used to the idea and to maybe even get excited about it that he'll take the news much better. I mean how is he going to be excited about something that I've been crying about all day?"

"I thought you were happy about the baby now?" asked Mandy.

"Well, I'm not as upset about it as I was at first," started Rachel, "but I'm still not really sold on it. I mean when the baby gets here I will have four kids under the age of 7 and an almost 16 year old living at home. I just don't know how I'll be able to handle it. I can barely handle it all now!"

"You're going to be just fine. You'll just take the new baby to day care at work with Caleb and Bella. I mean, who'll even notice one more?" asked Mandy with a laugh.

"Yeah, I mean Ross probably wouldn't even notice if I brought an extra one home," said Rachel now laughing too.

"See, you're happier about this than you think you are," said Mandy. "You should just go ahead and tell Ross and get it over with. The stress of worrying about what he's going to say isn't good for you or the baby."

"You're probably right," said Rachel. "I mean, it would be really hard to keep something like this from him anyways. I'm almost a month along so the morning sickness should be coming soon. He's been through this with me three times, so he'd probably pick up on it pretty quickly anyways. If the offer is still good, I may let you watch the kids for a couple of hours tonight."

"Sure, no problem," said Mandy.

"Ross was bringing home Chinese for dinner, so you guys can eat that," said Rachel. "I'm going to make him take me out!"

When they got home, Ross already had the Chinese food out for the kids to eat. He was fixing to grab a plate for himself when Rachel stopped him. "Honey, why don't we leave the kids here with Mandy and go grab a bite to eat. We have something we need to talk about."

"Um, okay," said Ross. "I've been wanting to try that new Italian place that they just put in down the street. Is that okay?"

"Sure, that's fine," replied Rachel.

After they had gotten to the restaurant and ordered Rachel began to talk. "Okay, so the thing is that I don't think I'm going to be able to have surgery on Thursday."

"Why not?" asked Ross. Before Rachel could continue he added, "As long as you're not pregnant or sick whatever the reason is should be fine."

Rachel felt her heart drop. There was no way she could tell him now. He definitely didn't want this baby. What was she going to do?

"Sweetie, what is it?" asked Ross, breaking Rachel out of her trance.

"Oh, well, I just decided that I didn't want to be put to sleep and everything!" said Rachel nervously.

"Oh, well that's fine sweetie. I completely understand," said Ross sympathetically.

Rachel was very nervous and jumpy through the rest of the dinner. Ross asked her if she was okay a couple of times, but she just told him she was tired and had a headache. This wasn't completely untrue, she was really tired. When they got home Mandy greeted them at the door with a big grin on her face. Rachel gave her a look and shook her head signaling to Mandy not to say anything. When Ross went upstairs to check on the kids Mandy turned to Rachel, "Why didn't you tell him?"

"Well, when I started out telling him that I wasn't going to have the surgery he said that it was fine as long as I wasn't pregnant, so I chickened out," said Rachel.

"You do know that you have to tell him sometime," said Mandy.

"I know but just not tonight. I've had all I can take for one day," said Rachel.

"Oh, I had a question to ask you," said Mandy. "I was going to ask you earlier today, but then with the baby and everything it totally slipped my mind."

"Okay, what is it?" asked Rachel.

"I was wondering if I could have next Friday off of work and fly home for a long weekend?" asked Mandy.

"Sure, I don't see why not. Are you getting a little homesick?" said Rachel.

"Yeah," started Mandy, "I've really been missing my parents and friends a lot. I just thought it would be really fun to go and visit them for a while."

"I was actually planning on taking a half day next Friday too because Ross wants to go up to his parent's beach house next weekend," said Rachel. "I'm sorry you won't get to go with us."

"That's okay," said Mandy. "Aren't we going for a few days before school starts?"

"Yeah, I'm taking off of work the week before school starts," answered Rachel. "We're going to the beach for the first half of the week with Monica, Chandler, and the kids. Then I'm going to take the second half of the week to get school supplies for the kids and stuff. Ben is supposed to be back in time to go to the beach with us too."

"Okay, well that sounds good," said Mandy. "I definitely won't miss that one!"

"Well, I'm going to go do baths and get the kids ready for bed," said Rachel.

"Okay, just be sure not to overdo it," reminded Mandy.

"I won't. Don't worry!" answered Rachel.

"You don't worry either," said Mandy. "Everything is going to be just fine."  
"I sure hope so," muttered Rachel. "I really hope so."

Please read and review!


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: Thanks so much for all of the great reviews! They really made my day. I know I've been updating really fast, but it's only because after this week my life is going to go crazy. I'm graduating from college, starting grad school, and moving all in the same week!

Mandy sighed as she walked off of the plane. She was so tired! She had worked all day, then had taken a 7 PM flight to Miami. It was now 11, and she was exhausted! She walked through the airport and down to baggage claim. As she was watching for her suitcase, she heard someone yell her name. She turned and saw her parents and Kristie running toward her. She ran and met them, giving each one a huge hug. It was so great to be home! They grabbed her bag and headed to the car. Kristie was spending the night with Mandy, so they just went straight home. They were all extremely tired, so they went straight to bed when they got home. Mandy's mom and dad were both now retired, so there would be plenty of time for catching up in the morning.

"So what is with the visit?" asked Kristie. "I thought when you left for New York we would never see you again!"

"Well I just missed you and my parents. There's nothing wrong with a visit is there?" asked Mandy.

"I don't guess so! I just thought that you were so in love with New York that all of us way down here in Florida would be forgotten at least until I moved up there in August," said Kristie.

"I'm still in love with New York. I've just really been missing home too," said Mandy. "Just wait until you move up there, it's harder than you think!"

"Yeah, I've been getting really nervous about it," said Kristie. "At least you have a family up there. I'm going to be all alone."

"Well there's enough of my family to go around. Rachel just found out that she's pregnant again!" said Mandy.

"Again!" exclaimed Kristie. "I thought she was getting her tubes tied."

"Well apparently they couldn't wait until she had the surgery and had another accident," said Mandy.

"Good grief! I hope that I'm in love with my husband that much," said Kristie.

"Yeah, so do I," said Mandy. "I'm looking for my Ross everyday."

The next morning Rachel was woken up with a sick feeling in her stomach. So it begins, she thought! She still hadn't told Ross about her pregnancy. She knew she was going to have to eventually since she was now 5 weeks along, and her morning sickness was starting. Ross was already up getting the kids breakfast, so he didn't see or hear Rachel run into their bathroom and get sick. After about 15 minutes she was starting to feel a little better, so she got ready and left for work. She had a few phone calls to make and reports to file then she was leaving at lunch and she, Ross, and the kids were going to the beach. When Rachel got the office she started to feel sick again. She barely made it to the restroom before she got sick again. Gosh, she really hoped she didn't have all day sickness again like she had when she was pregnant with Caleb. That was the worst!

Later that day when they finally got to the beach, after five stops along the way, Rachel was exhausted! She had been sick two more times since lunch. So far she had been successful at hiding it from Ross, but she knew if she kept this up Ross was going to figure it all out pretty quickly. "Sweetie," said Ross. "Why don't I take Emma and Caleb out to the beach while you and Bella take a nap. You both look pretty tired."

"Sounds great," said Rachel with relief. Going to the beach was definitely not something that she felt like doing!

Mandy's parents took her out for an early dinner on Friday night because she had plans with Kristie and a couple of their other girlfriends later on. "Okay," started Anita Jones. "Your father and I have something we would like to tell you."

"Sure, what is it?" answered Mandy.

"Well," said Robert Jones. "Since your mom and I are both retired we decided that we might like to move somewhere else."

"Okay," said Mandy.

"We also really don't want to be so far away from you," said Anita. "We know that what you want to do even when you get out of college will require you to live in New York, so we've decided that we may sell our house and move to New York!"

"Are you sure you want to live in New York?" asked Mandy.

"Yes, we're sure," her mom replied. "The only family either one of us have is you, and neither one of us can stand the thought of always having to be so far away from you. Are you okay with this?"

"Yeah, I think it's a great idea!" said Mandy. "I've been getting homesick some and this will help so much. Also this way both of my families will live in the same place so I can see you guys and Rachel and her family on holidays and everything. Do you know where you want to live?"

"Actually, we've already made an offer on a house and it was accepted," said Robert.

"Well where is it?" asked Mandy.

"It's two streets over from Ross and Rachel's. We've been talking with them, and they helped us find it," said Anita.

"You mean Ross and Rachel both already knew about this and didn't tell me?" exclaimed Mandy.

"Don't be mad at them," said Anita. "We made them promise to let us tell you."

Rachel took Bella with her into the master bedroom of the Geller family beach house. She laid Bella down on the bed and was getting ready to join her when she once again had to run to the bathroom and get sick. She had never had morning sickness that was this bad. When she stood up she was feeling really dizzy, but she made it back to the bed and lay down next to Bella. Just as she was closing her eyes, her cell phone started to ring. She got up and walked across the room to answer it. "Hello?" said Rachel.

"Hey Rachel!" said Mandy's very excited voice. "I can't believe you knew my parents were moving to New York and didn't tell me!"

"Yeah, they made me promise," Rachel weakly replied. She was beginning to feel even more dizzy.

"Are you okay?" asked Mandy. "You sound kind of weird."

"Yeah, I'm fine," answered Rachel. "My morning sickness just started today and I've already been sick at least six times. I'm also feeling really dizzy."

"You don't sound like you're fine," said Mandy. "You need to go and get Ross."

"No, I'm not going to do that," said Rachel. "Ross still doesn't know plus he's out on the beach with the kids. I'm just going to go lay down for a while then I'll be fine." As soon as Rachel said this everything went black.

Mandy heard a thud on the other end of the line. "Rachel, are you there? Rachel, answer me!" yelled Mandy. When she didn't get a response she hung up the phone and called Ross while silently praying that he had taken his cell phone with him to the beach.

The phone rang in her ear four times before someone finally picked up. "Hello?" came Ross's voice.

"Ross, this is Mandy," she said. "Go in the house and check on Rachel, NOW! I was on the phone with her and she collapsed!"

"What! Are you sure?' asked Ross as he quickly motioned for Emma and Caleb to come with him.

"Yes, I'm sure! Hurry!" answered Mandy. She then thought for a minute before adding, "Rachel is probably going to kill me for this, but you need to know that she's pregnant."

"Oh my gosh!" yelled Ross as he hung up the phone and ran for the house while his kids stared at their father wondering what in the world was going on.

A/N: Sorry to leave you hanging like that, but I will update again soon! Please review!


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: Thanks for all of the reviews! I couldn't leave you guys hanging too long!

Ross ran into the house and slammed the door yelling, "Rachel! Rach! Where are you?' Emma and Caleb came in right behind him looking around very scared. Ross then heard Bella start to cry so he followed her crying into the master bedroom. When he walked into the room he saw Rachel sitting in the floor with her head in her hands.

"Rach, what's wrong? Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just fell down. I'm going to go lay down," said Rachel.

"You're not fine," said Ross. "Mandy said you blacked out when you were on the phone with her."

"Well, I guess I got a little dizzy," said Rachel. "I just haven't been feeling that well today."

"Here, let me help you up," said Ross as he helped Rachel off of the floor. Rachel grabbed onto his shoulder to keep from falling as she got dizzy once again.

"Okay, that's it," said Ross. "We're taking you to the emergency room."

"No, you're not! I'm fine!" said Rachel. "I'm just going to lay down with Bella and you're going to take the kids back out to the beach to play."

"No, with you being pregnant we have to take you to the doctor," reasoned Ross.

"You know?" Rachel said with shock in her voice.

"Yes, Mandy told me," answered Ross. "Don't get mad at her though, she just thought I might need to know in case you were still blacked out. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was afraid," started Rachel. "I was afraid because you had said that you didn't want anymore kids, and I was afraid that if I told you it would be real, and I just don't know if I can handle it!"

"Sweetie, it's okay," said Ross as he wrapped Rachel into his arms. "Yes, it wasn't planned, but it will be okay. We can handle it. I don't want to brag, but I think we are pretty good parents. Now, I am taking you to the emergency room to make sure you're okay."

"Okay," relented Rachel. "I guess we better go. I've been sick six times already today and that just seems a little much for morning sickness. I've never been sick this much with any of the others."

On the way to the emergency room Rachel called Mandy back because she knew she was probably worried.

"Hello?" said Mandy.

"Hey sweetie," said Rachel.

"Are you okay?" asked Mandy.

"I think so. We're going to the emergency room to get everything checked out, but I think I'm alright. Also, thanks for telling Ross," said Rachel sarcastically.

"Well, I heard you hit the floor, and I was worried. I thought he would need to know in case he had to take you to the hospital or something," Mandy said nervously.

"It's okay, don't worry," said Rachel. "We've talked, and we're okay. There's still a lot more to talk about, but we have almost eight months to do that."  
"That's good," said Mandy.

"Well, I better go because we're pulling into the hospital, but I'll call you later and let you know what we find out," said Rachel.

"Okay, call me later," said Mandy. "I'm glad everything's okay."

Ross dropped Rachel off at the front door and left Bella, who was still asleep, with her. Ross parked the car and brought Emma and Caleb in with him. As he was walking into the door, he realized how funny the three of them must look. He was still wearing his bathing suit and a t-shirt. Caleb was dressed just like his daddy. Emma also had on a swim-suit with just a pair of shorts on over it. The three of them definitely looked like they had just walked in from the beach. He had been so worried about Rachel and so in shock about the new baby that changing clothes had never occurred to him. He still couldn't quite wrap his brain around the fact that he was going to be a father again. It definitely wasn't something he had been expecting, but it was a welcome surprise. He was actually surprised at how excited he was. He also knew that this pregnancy was going to be very hard on his wife so he then and there decided that he was going to be extra loving and supportive these next months. Rachel was going to need it.

When Ross walked in he didn't see Rachel sitting in the waiting room anywhere. He went to the front desk and asked where his wife was.

"They took her on back," the receptionist said. "She's in exam room three."

Ross walked down to exam room three and walked inside with Emma and Caleb following close behind. Rachel was lying on the bed with Bella snuggled up against her.

Ross was fixing to say something to Rachel when a nurse came in to check Rachel's temperature and blood pressure. She also rolled in a portable sonogram machine so they could check up on the baby. Just as the nurse was finishing, the doctor came right in. He asked Rachel lots of questions about what had happened. "Well," he started. "That really doesn't sound like morning sickness to me. It sounds like you may have a stomach virus, so I'm going to take some blood work, do a sonogram to check on the baby, and give you some fluids because I think you may be dehydrated."

"So are Rachel and the baby okay?' asked Ross.

"From what I can see, yes," said the doctor. "A nurse is going to come in and do some blood work, then I'll be back in a few minutes to do the sonogram. After that I may give Rachel an IV of fluids before I let her go home." The doctor then left the room.

"Mommy, what baby is the doctor talking about?" asked Emma. Ross and Rachel exchanged a look before Rachel answered, "Well, sweetie, mommy and daddy are going to have another baby. You guys are going to have a little brother or sister."

"Is the baby in your tummy again?" Emma asked.

"Yes, it is," said Rachel.

"Baby brother?" asked Caleb.

"It could be," said Ross. "It also could be another baby sister."

"Oh man!" said Caleb.

After this the nurse came in to do blood work on Rachel. The doctor then came in to do a sonogram. Ross got tears in his eyes as he looked at his child on the screen. His and Rachel's child. He looked at the screen then looked around at their three children, man they did make beautiful children. He took the children and showed them their new little brother or sister on the screen. They were all excited about the baby!

The doctor came back in and started an IV of fluids in Rachel. "Okay Rachel," said the doctor. "You can go home when the IV is finished, but you must stay in bed and drink plenty of fluids for the rest of the weekend. After a couple of days you should be fine."

When the doctor left Ross asked Rachel, "Do you just want to pack up and go home in the morning so you can get some rest?"

"No," said Rachel. "I can rest just as well here. You and the kids can play outside, and I can lay inside and rest." Just as Rachel finished saying this, her cell phone began to ring.

"Can you get that for me honey?" she asked.

Ross answered the phone and had a short conversation with whoever was on the other end of the line. When he hung up he said to Rachel, "It looks like we're going to have some company. Monica, Chandler, and the kids are on their way down."

"Did you tell them where we were?" asked Rachel.

"Nope," said Ross. "I figured we'd surprise them about the baby when they get here!"

Please Review!


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: This may be my last update for a little while (it could be a week or so unless I have time to do a chapter this weekend). I hope you are all still enjoying this story, please review!

When Rachel's IV was finished, Ross, Rachel, and the kids headed back to the beach house. They stopped at McDonald's on the way home and got Ross and the kids some dinner. Rachel was still feeling too sick to eat anything. When they got back to the house, Ross gave the kids their baths while Rachel lay on the bed and rested. Just as Ross was finished with the baths, Monica, Chandler, Jack, and Erica came in the front door. Jack and Erica immediately ran upstairs to go play with Emma and Caleb.

"Okay," said Monica. "The first thing we need to do is work out sleeping arrangements. I was thinking that we let Emma and Erica sleep on the sofa sleeper, Jack and Caleb can sleep in the room with the two twin beds, Bella's crib can go in with the boys, and Chandler and I will take the room with the double bed for tonight while you guys sleep in the master bedroom then tomorrow night we'll switch!"

"Actually Mon," said Ross. "I was thinking maybe Rachel and I should have the master bedroom the whole weekend."

"What!" exclaimed Monica. "Do you just assume since your mom and dad's favorite that you can have the best room. Well mommy isn't here to take your side now is she?"

"If you would just calm down, I would explain," said Ross. "We've been at the hospital all night because Rachel's got a bad stomach virus. They had to give her an IV with fluids because she was dehydrated, and the doctor told her she had to stay in bed and rest all weekend. I just think she would be more comfortable in the big bed."

"Okay," Monica relented with a pout.

"Is Rachel okay?" asked Chandler.

"Yeah, I think she's feeling a little better," said Ross. "She's just really got to be careful. It's dangerous for someone in her condition to have a stomach virus."

"In her condition?" asked Chandler. "What condition is that?"

"I'm supposed to wait and let her tell you guys tomorrow," said Ross.

"Hold on," Monica said, beginning to catch on. "Is Rachel pregnant again?"

"Yes, but you better act surprised when she tells you tomorrow," said Ross.

"I can't believe she didn't tell me!" exclaimed Monica. "Here I was thinking that I was her best friend, but she doesn't even tell me when she's pregnant. Who knows what else she's not telling me?"

"Well, if it makes you feel any better she didn't tell me either," said Ross.

"So how do you know?" asked Chandler. "Are you a mind reader now?"

"Mandy told me after Rachel passed out this afternoon while talking on the phone to her," said Ross. "I think Rachel was afraid that I wouldn't want the baby because we had both decided not to have any more children."

"Well, how do you feel about this?" asked Monica.

"At first I was pretty freaked out," said Ross. "When the baby gets here we'll have five kids living at home. Now, I'm starting to get kind of excited about it, I mean we're going to have another baby!"

"I thought I was going to tell them!" exclaimed Rachel as she walked into the room.

"Why are you out of bed, sweetie?" asked Ross.

"I wanted a glass of water," answered Rachel. "I can't believe you told them! I haven't got to tell anybody. I didn't even get to tell you!"

"You can tell everyone else, I promise honey," said Ross as he wrapped his arm around Rachel's waist.

"Well congratulations sweetie!" said Monica as she gave Rachel a hug.

"Yeah, congrats!" added Chandler as he gave her a hug too.

"Well, I think I'm going to go to bed and try to get some sleep," said Rachel.

"Okay, let's talk tomorrow though," said Monica.

"Okay," answered Rachel.

"I'll get the kids to bed then I'll be up," said Ross as he gave Rachel a quick kiss.

The next morning all the kids were up by seven and ready to hit the beach. A dragging Ross and Chandler were assigned to beach duty while Monica cleaned up the kitchen and Rachel slept. After Monica was finished cleaning up the breakfast dishes, she grabbed some water and saltine crackers to take up to Rachel. She stuck her head in the door to find Rachel propped up in bed just sitting there. "Are you feeling any better this morning?" asked Monica.

"Well, I feel kinda sick, but I don't know if it's still the virus or if it's morning sickness," said Rachel.

"I brought you up some saltines if you feel like eating anything. You need to try to eat something if you can," said Monica.

"Thanks honey, but I think I'll wait a little while because I don't think I can keep anything down right now," said Rachel.

"So are you excited about being pregnant again?" asked Monica.

"I guess," said Rachel. "I mean, I feel better now that I know Ross is okay with it all, but I'm still worried that I can't handle it. How am I going to handle another baby? I can barely handle the ones I have! I mean, we don't even have an extra room for the baby! Where will it sleep?" Rachel was now crying. It felt so good to get all of her fears out to her best friend.

"Honey, those things will work themselves out," said Monica. "Just think about that sweet little baby. Think about the first time you'll hold it. Think about the first time your child looks at you. How can you be upset about this?"

"I know I shouldn't be upset about having another child because children are blessings, but I'm just afraid," said Rachel.

"What exactly are you afraid of?" asked Monica.

"I'm afraid of having it! After what happened with Bella and how we almost lost her, I'm afraid to have another child. What if something goes wrong again? I just couldn't handle it," said Rachel, now crying even harder. Rachel thought back to the day when Bella had been born. She had gone into labor two months early after her most difficult pregnancy ever. Bella's heart rate had dropped suddenly and an emergency C-section had to be preformed. When she was born, she wasn't even breathing. She had spent three months in neo-natal ICU before she could be brought home. For the first few weeks they hadn't known if she was going to make it. Rachel hadn't even been allowed to hold her child for a month. Just thinking about it made her cry.

"Oh Rach," said Monica as she held her best friend in her arms. "Everything is going to be okay. We are all going to make sure that you get plenty of rest and have as easy a pregnancy as possible. If you ever need me to watch the kids or anything just let me know, okay?"

"Okay, thanks Mon," said Rachel. "I'm sorry I came unglued, but it felt good to get it out. Maybe now that I've talked about the real reason I've been so scared I can start to be happy about this, I mean I'm having a baby!"

"I know!" said Monica as she gave Rachel another hug.

A/N: Sorry Mandy really hasn't been in these past two chapters. I just really wanted to talk about Ross and Rachel's feelings about the baby. In the next chapter we will skip ahead a couple of months to Mandy starting college! Please Review!


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: Thanks so much for being patient and waiting for an update. This has just been a crazy week! The next few weeks or so I'll probably only be able to get in one update per week. Please continue to review and let me know if you are enjoying it!

This chapter skips ahead about 1 ½ months to August when Mandy is getting ready to start college! (Rachel is about 2 ½ months pregnant)

Ross, Rachel, Mandy, Ben, Emma, Caleb, and Bella all piled into their Expedition to head home from the beach house. They had five days of beach fun, but now it was time to head back home. They only had a few days before school started for Mandy, Ben, and Emma. Mandy's parents and the moving trucks were coming on Friday to move into their new house. Mandy then moved into the dorms on Saturday. About an hour into the four hour drive chaos broke loose. Bella was screaming because she wanted out of her car seat, Caleb was complaining because he was hungry, Emma was yelling because she couldn't hear her movie over Bella's crying, Ben was trying to get them all to be quiet, and Mandy was getting a migraine from all the noise. "Ross!" yelled Rachel over the madness. "Pull over now!"

"Rach, Caleb can wait an hour for lunch. He just ate an hour ago!" said Ross.

"No, pull over because I'm going to be sick!" exclaimed Rachel. A week or so after she had gotten over her virus, the morning sickness had hit full force. She had thought it was over, but apparently it wasn't!

Ross pulled the car off on the side of the interstate, and Rachel jumped out of the car and got sick on the side of the road. "Is mommy okay?" asked Emma.

"Yes, sweetie, mommy is fine," said Ross. "The baby in her tummy is just making her feel a little sick."

"Did I make mommy sick when I was in her tummy?" asked Emma.

"You sure did, sweetie," answered Ross. "That's just what babies do when they're in their mommy's tummy."

Rachel got back in the car, and they continued on. After three more stops in three more hours they were finally home. By the time they got the car unloaded it was already 8 o'clock. Rachel was extremely glad that she had taken the entire week off work because she was so exhausted that she knew there was no way she could go anywhere in the morning, but tomorrow afternoon she had to take the kids back to school shopping. "Honey," said Ross. "Why don't you go on upstairs to bed and I'll get the kids ready for bed?"

"Thanks, sweetie," replied Rachel. She gave Ross a kiss then headed up the stairs to their bedroom. Ross had been so helpful and supportive ever since he found out she was pregnant. Even though they hadn't talked about it, she knew he was just as worried as she was. Neither one of them could handle what had happened with Bella again. The doctor had thought that part of the reason Rachel went into labor early was stress. At the time she had a one year old, a four year old, a thirteen year old stepson, and a stressful job. This time around Ross was trying to make things much less stressful on her. He was taking care of the kids, cooking dinner, doing the dishes, cleaning, and taking care of everything else around the house. Rachel was wondering what was going to happen when Ross started back to work next week. The kids would be in school or daycare all day, but she wondered if Ross would still feel like doing all of that household stuff after a day at work. She knew she should stop worrying because Ross would do everything he possibly could to take care of her. She had also already cut back some at work, but she knew that in a couple of months she was going to have to cut back even more. They were determined that this pregnancy was going to be a healthy one. Rachel crawled into bed and had already drifted off to sleep when Ross came into the bedroom. He kissed the top of her head and climbed into bed beside her. He then put his hand on her stomach which was just starting to slightly bulge. It was still unnoticeable to everyone else, but he could feel it. "I love you," he said softly as he too drifted off to sleep.

The next morning everyone, even Bella, slept in. About nine, Ross and Rachel heard Bella yelling over the baby monitor, "Mommy! Mommy! Out!"

"I'll get her Rach," said Ross.

"No, I'll go," replied Rachel as she got out of bed and put on her robe. "She was asking for her mommy. I'll be right back." She leaned down, gave Ross a kiss, and left the room. "Hey baby!" she said as she lifted Bella out of her crib. Bella closed her big blue eyes as she laid her head on her mommy's shoulder. Rachel took her back into her and Ross's bedroom and laid her down between them. "I think it may be time we get someone a big girl bed," said Rachel.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Ross. "I've been thinking about what we're going to do for rooms when the baby comes. I actually thought that maybe we should put Bella in with Emma and use Bella's room for the nursery."

"That's a good idea," said Rachel. "I've been thinking too and thought that maybe we should finish out the attic and let Ben have his room up there so he would have more privacy. Then we could use Ben's room for a guest room or if Mandy ever wanted to spend the night, even though she probably won't be doing that very often now that her parents are moving up here."

"That sounds like a good plan," said Ross. "I'll call around for a contractor next week." Just then the bedroom door cracked open and Caleb walked in. He climbed in the bed on the other side of his mommy and snuggled in. The kids loved to come and get in bed with Ross and Rachel on Saturday mornings and even though this was a Thursday, it felt like Saturday. Just as Rachel suspected, Emma came into the room next. She took her normal position on the other side of Ross and snuggled into her daddy. They stayed like this for about half an hour until the kids started to get restless. By then Ben and Mandy were awake also, so they had a big family breakfast.

Around lunch time Rachel loaded up with Ben, Emma, and Mandy to go back to school shopping. The two youngest kids stayed home with their daddy. Their first stop was Bloomingdales where Rachel bought Emma and Ben all the clothes they would need to start back to school with. Emma loved to dress up, so Rachel bought her some really cute skirts and tops for school. She also made Emma get a couple of new pairs of jeans, new tennis shoes, and some cute slide on shoes to wear with her skirts. Ben just got jeans, t-shirts, polo shirts, and tennis shoes. It didn't take much for the fifteen year old to get all he thought he would need. Mandy bought a couple of new pairs of jeans and a few new tops, but when going to college you really didn't need back to school clothes anymore. Their next stop was a Target on their way home. All three got pens, pencils, and notebooks. Emma also got new crayons, markers, glue, and everything else that a first grader needed. Rachel had known better than to bring her two youngest children because they would have to have everything Emma got, but she felt bad not getting something for them so she went to the toy section and picked out a baseball glove for Caleb because he always wanted to play baseball with Ben. Ben had turned out to be quite an athlete. He played baseball and soccer. Rachel thought he must have gotten that from Carol! She then picked out a little doll for Bella. She knew she was probably spoiling her children, but she felt bad buying all this stuff for the older kids and not getting anything for the younger ones.

"Mommy," started Emma.

"No, you can not get a toy," interrupted Rachel. "You got all new school stuff today, and we still have to go pick you out a new backpack."

"Mommy, I wanted to know if we could pick out a toy for the baby?" asked Emma.

"Sorry sweetie," said Rachel as she kissed Emma on her head. "Why don't we go pick something out for the baby?"

They picked out an extra soft, brown, teddy bear that Emma said would work if the baby was a boy or a girl. When they got home Caleb and Bella were excited over their gifts. Bella walked around the house holding the baby while Caleb convinced Ben to go out in the back yard with him a throw a baseball.

"Daddy!" exclaimed Emma. "Look what we got for the new baby!" She showed her daddy the teddy bear she and her mommy had picked out.

"Wow, sweetie, that's great!" said Ross. "Do you want to keep it in your room until the baby gets here for you to give it to them?"

"Yes daddy," said Emma as she ran upstairs with the bear.

"So did you guys have a good day?" Ross asked Mandy and Rachel.

"Yeah," said Mandy. "I think I got everything I should need for classes. All I'll have to do is go to the bookstore on campus to get my books next week."

"That's great," said Ross. "So did you get anything?" he asked Rachel.

"Nope, not a thing!" she said with a smile.

"Oh my gosh! Did hell freeze over?" Ross asked with a laugh.

"No, silly," replied Rachel. "I just didn't need anything. In a couple of weeks I'm not going to be able to fit into my clothes so there was no point in buying new clothes right now, I get all my purses for free, and I didn't have time to look at shoes."

"Glad to see that there is a logical explanation, I was worried," said Ross now laughing even harder.

"Just for that you get to cook dinner while I go relax!" said Rachel as she turned and walked up the stairs still laughing.

"Do you want any help?" Mandy asked Ross.

"No, you go on upstairs and pack. I know you have a lot to do," said Ross.

Ross then started to get out the ingredients to make spaghetti. He cooked with a smile while watching his sons play baseball out the window. He couldn't believe just how blessed he was!

A/N: Sorry this chapter was kind of sappy. In the next chapter we'll get to see Mandy start to college! Please review!


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: Thank you so much for all of the amazing reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

The next morning Mandy got up early to finish packing all her things. This was the last night she would stay at Ross and Rachel's, at least for a while. Rachel was going with her that afternoon to pick her parents, Kristie, and Kristie's parents up at the airport. The movers were supposed to be at the Jones' new home by two this afternoon. They were also bringing all of Mandy's stuff for college andher car. She and Kristie were moving into their dorm room tomorrow morning. Both girls had decided to go through sorority recruitment and the parties started on Sunday morning. Mandy was pretty nervous about it, but Rachel had written her a recommendation for her sorority and had assured Mandy that she would have no problems because she would be considered a legacy. Mandy was trying her best to be quiet because Emma was still asleep in the room. Even though she loved her little sister to death, Mandy was kind of glad to not have to share a room with a six year old anymore. She'd had to move in with Emma when Ben had got back from California two weeks ago. It was kind of annoying to have to be really quiet and not to be able to stay up on her laptop talking with her friends at night because Emma was already sleeping. Rachel had told her yesterday about their plans for room rearrangements. Mandy was pretty excited because she would now have her own room whenever she wanted to come and stay with Rachel.

When Mandy was finished with the last of her packing, she headed downstairs to get some breakfast. She was very glad she hadn't woken up Emma because just like Rachel, Emma was not a morning person. That was one quality Mandy had not inherited from her mother. While she did like to sleep late, Mandy was not grouchy in the mornings. To her surprise the kitchen was empty. She had figured Bella and Caleb would already have their mommy and daddy up and out of bed because it was almost 9 o'clock. Mandy decided that she would do something nice for her family since it was her last day living here and cook them breakfast. She got out the Bisquick and the waffle maker and started to cook waffles. After about fifteen minutes she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She turned and saw her step-brother Ben coming down. "What are you doing up so early?" she asked.

"The smell woke me up!" Ben said with a grin.

"Well go ahead and eat," Mandy said smiling back. "This is kind of strange. I don't think we have ever been the first two people awake in this house. The kids are usually up so early."

"Yeah, I know! Even on Saturdays," said Ben. "I mean, I love them, and I had rather live here than in California, but it can be so annoying sometimes with little kids everywhere! Dad told me yesterday that they were going to let me have the attic, and I can't wait!"

"Yeah, that'll be a lot better. Plus, now I'll get to have your room when I come to stay," replied Mandy. Mandy and Ben made small talk for a few more minutes. She really liked her step-brother, but she felt like she really didn't know him that well because both of the summers she had spent with the Geller family, Ben had been in California. They both stopped talking when they heard more footsteps coming down the stairs. Ross was holding Bella in one arm and was holding Caleb's hand with the other. "Waffles!" yelled Caleb as he ran to the table.

"Thanks for cooking breakfast," said Ross, giving Mandy a hug. He then went and put Bella in her highchair. Ross then went to help Mandy fix plates for Caleb, Bella, and himself. "Should I go ahead and fix a plate for Emma and Rachel?" asked Mandy.

"Well, Emma is still asleep and Rachel isn't feeling that well this morning, so I would wait," said Ross.

"Okay, well I'm going to go upstairs and get ready. I hope you enjoy breakfast," said Mandy as she turned and headed up the stairs. She walked down the hall to the master bedroom and knocked on the door. "Come in," said Rachel.

"Morning, are you okay? Ross said you weren't feeling that well this morning," said Mandy.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a little morning sickness, no big deal," answered Rachel. "I'm going to get up and take a shower in a minute so we can leave to go pick up your parents. Are you excited?"

"Yeah, I'm excited to see them and Kristie," answered Mandy. "I really can't wait until tomorrow when I get to move into the dorm! Are you still going to come and help?" asked Mandy with a pleading look on her face.

"Yeah, as long as Ross doesn't mind watching the kids for the day," said Rachel. "I'm going to go take a shower now. Meet you down stairs in 45 minutes?"

"Sure," said Mandy.

Forty-five minutes later Mandy and Rachel were on the way to pick Mandy's parents up from the airport. Rachel was still feeling a little sick but went anyways. "Mandy, are you excited about recruitment?" asked Rachel.

"I'm really nervous," said Mandy. "If Kristie didn't want to be in a sorority so much I probably wouldn't even do it. I'm still not really sure if it's for me."

"If you don't want to, you know you don't have to," said Rachel. "I enjoyed it, but fortunately you are a lot less crazy and more down to earth than I was at eighteen, so you might not like it. Plus, it's really not as big of a deal now as it was back then."

"Yeah, I know," said Mandy. "It just seems really time consuming to me. Plus, I'm really not a party girl like you were!"

"Well, I wasn't a party girl until I went to college," said Rachel.

"Yeah, right!" exclaimed Mandy. "Monica has told me so many stories about you in high school. You were crazy!"

"Gosh, I have got to keep my children away from Monica," said Rachel. "She'll tell all my secrets!"

Mandy and Rachel both laughed as they pulled into the airport and walked in to go meet her parents. They stood at baggage claim to wait for the Jones. After a few minutes Mandy saw her parents, Kristie, and Kristie's parents coming down the escalator. She went and gave both of her parents and Kristie a hug. Anita Jones then walked over to Rachel and gave her a hug as well. "How was your flight?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, it was fine. We're just ready to get moved," said Anita. "I hear that congratulations are in order again!"

"Yeah," said Rachel as she ran her hand over her slight bump which was still unnoticeable to observers. "We were a little surprised, but we're excited. This is definitely the last one though!" Rachel then went and greeted Robert Jones and Kristie. She also said hello to Kristie's parents whom she had only met once. Kristie and her family were catching a cab into the city where they had a hotel for the night. They were going to go to a play tonight because they had never been to one on Broadway before. Mandy was going to meet up with them the next morning at the dorm room.

Mandy, her parents, and Rachel all got into the car and headed back to Westchester. Rachel pulled into the driveway of the Jones's new home. It looked like the movers weren't there yet. Mandy and her parents got out of the car and started into the house. "Do you need me to help with anything?" Rachel asked.

"No, we're fine, but thank you," said Anita. "We would love if you could still come and help tomorrow though because I may leave Robert here at the house doing stuff while we go to the dorms."

"Of course! I'll be there," said Rachel. She then turned and pulled out of the driveway and headed the five minutes down the road to her home.

Author's note: Sorry that I still haven't gotten to Mandy actually starting to college. She is moving into the dorms next chapter though! Please read and review!


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: I'm sorry it's been over a month since I've updated! I never meant to go that long! My life in the last month has just been total chaos. I hope you enjoy the update!

The next morning Rachel got up at 7 AM. She was supposed to meet Mandy and Anita at the dorms by 8 AM, which was the move in time. Mandy had called the night before and asked if Rachel could come over so Mandy could put some stuff in her car as well. Rachel put on black work out pants, a big t-shirt, tennis shoes, and pulled her hair up in a pony tail. She wasn't worried about looking cute today because she was going to be working all day. Then she went into the bathroom and put on a little make-up. Ross was still asleep in the bed so she went and gave him a quick kiss which woke him up. "I'm gone honey," said Rachel.

"Okay, be careful and don't strain yourself too much," answered Ross.

"I won't," said Rachel. "Love you."

"Love you too," answered Ross as he rolled over and went back to sleep.

When Rachel arrived at the NYU freshman dorm, Mandy and her mom were already there. Kristie and her parents were there as well. It was decided that Mandy and her mom would bring Mandy's stuff up the stairs and that Rachel would start to organize it in the room because Rachel didn't need to do any heavy lifting. They worked non-stop until noon when they decided to take a lunch break. Mandy, Kristie, and Rachel walked down the street to a deli while the rest of the parents continued to fix stuff in the room. As Mandy, Rachel, and Kristie walked into the front door of the dorm with lunch for everyone, a guy who Mandy thought had to be the cutest guy she had ever seen in her life stopped them. "Hey ladies, I'm Chris and I just moved into room 1202."

Mandy was the first to regain her composure and answered, "I'm Mandy and this is my roommate Kristie. We just moved into 2204."

"Well, a bunch of us are going out tonight, if you want to join us?" asked Chris.

"Sure, that would be fun," Mandy said with a huge grin on her face.

"Okay, I'll pick you girls up around 10," answered Chris.

They then started to walk away when Chris grabbed Rachel by the arm, "Hey, you never told me your name."

"My name's Rachel," she answered as Kristie and Mandy started to snicker.

"Well Rachel, what room do you live in?" asked Chris.

"Umm," started Rachel trying really hard not to laugh, "I don't exactly live in the dorm."  
"Oh, so you live off campus?" asked Chris. Mandy and Kristie were unable to hide their laughter at this point. Chris started to give them a strange look.

"Actually," said Rachel, "I'm Mandy's mom." By now even Rachel had started to laugh!

"Oh, wow!" said Chris. "I mean, you just don't look old enough to have a daughter in college. I thought you were like her older sister or something. Man am I embarrassed! Now I see the wedding ring!"

"It's okay," said Rachel. "It's not every day that an eighteen year old hits on me. It felt kind of nice. I just better not tell my husband!"

"So, will I still be able to see you tonight?" he asked while looking straight at Mandy.

"Sure, ten o'clock, right?"

"Right."  
"Okay, we'll be ready," Mandy said as they walked off and headed up the stairs.

When they walked back into Mandy and Kristie's dorm room, they all busted out laughing once again.

"What's so funny?" asked Anita.

"Oh, this freshman just hit on Rachel," said Mandy. "He thought she was like my sister or something. He wanted her to go out with us tonight!"

Anita started laughing just as hard as the rest of them! The rest of the afternoon flew by and soon everything was unpacked and the room had been transformed from looking like a hospital room into a page from the Pottery Barn catalogue. Mandy and Kristie had picked out matching pink and green duvet covers, matching desk lamps, and tons of pictures of themselves, their friends from home, and their families. The room actually looked like home now. Kristie left to go have dinner with her parents before they caught their flight back to Miami. Mandy gave Anita and Rachel a hug and thanked them both for helping her today. They both then left to head home. Before she left Rachel made Mandy promise to call her in the morning and give her every last detail of her night out with Chris.

After everyone had left, Mandy sat down on her bed and looked around her new home. She had never been so excited in her entire life. She was getting to live on her own with her best friend and to go school to become what she had dreamed of being since she was a little girl, a fashion designer! Not only all of that, but the hottest guy in the world was coming to take her out tonight! Sure he had said a bunch of people were going, and Kristie was going too, but Mandy thought Chris might like her! Maybe he was going to bring another guy for Kristie and they could double date.

Promptly at ten o'clock that night there was a knock on Mandy's dorm room door. She went and opened the door to find Chris standing there. "We're just about ready," she said to him. "Come on inside."

"We?" said Chris. "I thought me and you were going out tonight."  
"I thought you said a bunch of people were going and you asked me and my roommate," Mandy whispered, hoping that Kristie couldn't hear the conversation from the bathroom.

"That's when I thought Rachel was your sister, not your mom! I was going to fix her up with my older brother," said Chris.

"Well, couldn't you fix Kristie up with your older brother?" she asked.

"I don't think she's really his type," said Chris.

Mandy didn't know what to say to this. She knew that Kristie wasn't what most would consider gorgeous, but Mandy had always thought she was really cute. She was about thirty pounds overweight, but she had gorgeous dark brown, curly hair, and big brown eyes. Mandy knew in reality she was prettier than Kristie, but that had never been a problem for her. Looks were not something that Mandy put a whole lot of value in.

"Well, maybe I shouldn't go," said Mandy. "I don't want to leave my roommate here alone on our first night."

"No, Mandy," said Chris. "Come with me. Just tell Kristie that her date cancelled out. I really want to go out with you."

"Okay," Mandy relented. She went inside, quickly broke the news to Kristie, and ran out the door with Chris. In the back of her mind she chastised herself for being so rude. She had never blown off her best friend for a guy! She had always been a good friend, but she had also never dated a guy like Chris. It was almost as if Chris had some kind of power over her. When she was with him, she just didn't think like herself.

Please read and review! I promise it won't be another month before you get another chapter!


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: I'm so sorry it's been so long since an update! Pharmacy school just takes up a lot more time than I ever thought possible. I am going to finish this fic, but it might take a while so just hang with me! I hope you guys enjoy the update.

Two Months Later (Mandy has been at college for two months and Rachel is five months pregnant)

"Hey this is Mandy and Kristie's room; sorry we're not in right now so just leave us a message!" Rachel groaned at the sound of her daughter's voice on the answering machine. She had been trying to get up with her oldest daughter for over a week with no luck. She wasn't returning any of her phone calls, which was so unlike Mandy. Rachel was trying to make sure that Mandy knew this Saturday was Emma's seventh birthday party. Emma thought her older sister hung the moon and would be utterly devastated if Mandy didn't come to her party. Rachel was fixing to hang up on the machine when she heard someone pick up on the other end of the line.

"Hello," said Kristie who was out of breath from running in the door to catch the phone.

"Hey Kristie, this is Rachel. Is Mandy around by any chance?"

"Nope, I think she must have a class or something," answered Kristie. In reality she hadn't seen Mandy in over a week, but thought it would be a bad idea to tell that to her mom.

"Well could you please have her call me when she gets back. I wanted to make sure that she is coming to Emma's birthday party this Saturday. You are more than welcome to come if you want to," said Rachel.

"Thanks," said Kristie. "I'll be there, and the next time I see Mandy I'll tell her to be sure to give you a call." "Who knows when that will be," Kristie muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" asked Rachel.

"Oh, nothing! I'll see you Saturday!"

Mandy left her class on a mission. She had to go back to her dorm room and get more clothes. Chris's room mate had moved out two weeks before, so she had been staying with him in his room for the past couple of weeks. She had to hurry and get ready because Chris was taking her out for a romantic dinner before the party tonight. Her sorority, Kappa ,just like her mom, and his fraternity were having a social tonight. She knew that she should probably be studying for her calculus mid-term that was in the morning, but what does a fashion designer need calculus for? That class is just a waste of time! She stopped cold when she walked into the room and saw the glare that Kristie was giving her.

"Where have you been?" asked Kristie.

"I've been spending the night at Chris's," answered Mandy.

"Well you could at least call or something. I had no idea where you were, and you wouldn't even answer your cell!" yelled Kristie.

"Sorry, I've been busy with Chris and sorority stuff. I guess you don't know how that is," said Mandy.

"No, I guess I don't since I didn't get into a sorority and I don't have a boyfriend," said Kristie with a tear in her eye.

"I'm sorry Kris, I wasn't thinking. I guess I haven't been around all that much lately. Do you want to have a girl's night tomorrow night?"

"Pizza and Disney movies?" asked Kristie.

"Of course!" said Mandy.

"Oh, Rachel called. She said for you to call her ASAP. It's about Emma's birthday party this Saturday," said Kristie.

"Dang it! I forgot that was this weekend. I still have to get her a present too!" exclaimed Mandy. "I'll call her on my way to Chris's! See you tomorrow night!"

When Friday night rolled around Kristie sat waiting on Mandy to come home for girl's night. She even tried to call her a couple of times but only got voicemail. Around midnight she finally gave up and went to bed.

Mandy laughed as she stumbled around the dance floor with a beer in her hand. Trying out their new fake id's at this club had been such a great idea! She, Chris, and some more of their friends had all gotten new fake id's. Mandy had never been much of a partier, but now she saw why her mom partied so much in college. It was so much fun! So what if she failed her mid-term this morning? She had already forgotten all about it. As she was dancing with Chris, a thought entered her mind, Kristie. She had forgotten all about girl's night! She looked down at her watch. It was already almost 2 AM. There was no way Kristie was still awake. She would have to make this up to her somehow! The band then came back on, and Chris came up behind her and started dancing. All thoughts of Kristie were long gone.

Rachel got up early on Saturday morning. There was a lot to do before Emma's big party. Lately, Emma had really gotten into horses. She had been begging her parents for horseback riding lessons for months. Ross and Rachel had finally relented and had let Emma start taking lessons a few weeks ago, and just like she was with everything else she had ever tried, she was a natural. As a surprise for Emma and the rest of the kids, Ross had lined up a pony to come to the birthday party. They were going to have pony rides in the backyard. Ross was getting all of that set up while Rachel rode into town to pick up Emma's cake. Rachel loaded Caleb and Bella into the car with her while the birthday girl slept. By the time Rachel got back with the cake Emma was awake and jumping off the walls! Ross had made the mistake of telling her about the pony, and now she couldn't sit still because she was so excited.

By one o'clock everyone was at the party, that is everyone but Mandy. "I guess she's running a little late," said Rachel. "We'll just get started without her." Emma opened all of her presents in a flash. Almost everything she got had a horse on it! Shirts, skirts, picture frames, and even a jacket. She even got a horse for her American Girl Doll to ride. Emma, Jack, Erica, Caleb, Bella, Sky, and Emma's friends from school all loved riding the pony. Bella was a little scared at first, but was just fine as long as her daddy walked beside her and held her. Everyone was too busy to notice that Mandy had still not arrived. Rachel had even forgotten about it until Emma came up to her at around 3 o'clock to ask where her big sister was. Rachel had to tell her the truth, she had no idea. "Is Mandy going to miss my whole birthday?" asked Emma with tears in her eyes. "I hope not sweetie," said Rachel as she held her daughter in her arms. Emma then went back to ride the pony again, and Rachel went to make a phone call.

Mandy groaned at the sound of her cell phone going off. "Shut up!" she yelled as she winced from the throbbing pain in her head. She reached over to grab her phone and jumped when she saw the name. "Oh my gosh!" she yelled.

"What is it, honey?" asked Chris.

"I forgot Emma's party. It's over by now!" said Mandy.

"Well, can't you just go out there tonight or tomorrow?" asked Chris.

"No, I have that philanthropy project thing that starts tonight and doesn't end until tomorrow evening. I am dead!" exclaimed Mandy!

Please Read and Review! I will try my best to have the next chapter up soon!


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Thanks so much for all the great reviews! It's a slow week this week, so I thought I'd add another chapter while I could. A lot of you commented about Mandy being out of character in the last chapter, but one thing that I have learned over the past four years is that people change dramatically when they go to college and have absolute freedom. Hopefully for Mandy it's just a phase!

Mandy saw Rachel's name flash across her cell phone for at least the tenth time since she had missed Emma's birthday the day before, she decided she might as well get it over with and talk to her. "Hello."

"Mandy! What in the heck happened to you yesterday! Do you know that your sister cried for two hours straight because you missed her birthday? "yelled Rachel.

"I'm sorry, I overslept," Mandy sheepishly replied.

"Overslept! The party was at one. How hard is it to get up by lunch time? Even if you missed the party, you still could have come to see her last night or at least called her! That wouldn't have been too difficult," exclaimed Rachel.

"When I woke up it was time to go to the Kappa Dance-A-Thon for our philanthropy project so I didn't have time," Mandy tried to explain.

"So now your sorority is more important than your family," accused Rachel.

"I'm sorry! What else am I supposed to say?" asked Mandy.

"Don't apologize to me. You need to apologize to Emma. You do realize that your little sister looks up to you and wants to be just like you when she grows up. How do you think it made her feel for the person she looks up to most in the world to miss her birthday for absolutely no reason?" Rachel said as she started to tear up.

"I know," said Mandy. "I really messed up, and I'm sorry. I want to make it up to Emma. How about I pick her up from school one day this week and take her shopping, just the two of us?"

"I think Emma would really like that. I have to work a little later on Tuesday, so I was going to have Monica pick her up, but if you could that would be wonderful," said Rachel.

"I can do Tuesday. I get out of class at one, so that'll be plenty of time to drive out there," said Mandy.

"I'm glad you're doing this, Mandy. I don't know what has gotten into you lately. It's like you're not the same person you were two months ago. All of the sudden you're irresponsible, staying out all night, living with your boyfriend. What's going on?" asked Rachel.

"Nothing is going on," said Mandy. "Maybe I have been spending a little too much time with Chris, but I've never felt this way about a guy before. I think I may be in love!"

"Oh really," said Rachel. "How about me and you meet for lunch on Wednesday at that deli by your dorm? I think we need to talk about this one in person."

"Sounds good! I'll see you Wednesday at lunch," said Mandy.

Tuesday afternoon Rachel was sitting in her office trying to put the finishing touches on a presentation that she was having to give to retailers the next morning. It was just a routine presentation about their line for the next spring, but it still had a little bit of work left to be done on it. Rachel was in deep concentration when her phone rang. "Rachel Geller"

"Yes, Mrs. Geller, this is Emma's school. We were wondering who was supposed to pick Emma up today? School has been out for over an hour and Emma is quite upset."

"Oh my gosh!" said Rachel. "I'm so sorry. Her older sister was supposed to pick her up today. I don't know what happened, but I'll have someone over there in just a few minutes."

Rachel had never been so angry in her life as she was when she hung up that phone. How could Mandy forget to pick her sister up from school, especially only a few days after missing her birthday! Rachel was tempted to pick up the phone and call Mandy right then, but she was too mad to even talk to her at the moment, so instead she called Monica and had her go to the school to pick up Emma.

When Rachel walked into her house a couple of hours later with dinner, she saw Ross sitting at the kitchen table trying to help a still whimpering Emma with her homework.  
"Mommy!" yelled Emma as she ran into her mother's arms. "Why did Mandy forget me today?" she asked.

"I don't know sweetie. I bet she was just really busy and couldn't help it. I'm sure she didn't forget you on purpose," said Rachel even though she wasn't entirely certain that what she was saying was true.

Later that night, Rachel was having a hard time trying to get to sleep. She was furious at her older daughter. How could she do something like this not once but twice? She was also a little worried about Mandy. She had never acted like this before in her life. Rachel was beginning to wonder if Mandy had a problem. She also began to wonder if maybe she should call Mandy's parents and see if they had noticed any of the same changes that she had noticed in Mandy. "Sweetie," said Ross. "You really need to try and get some sleep. All of this worrying isn't good for you and the baby. Remember, you need to try to be stress free."

"I'm trying," Rachel said, slightly annoyed. "I'm doing everything I can to try and not get worked up, but I can't help it. I'm furious at Mandy, and I intend to get to the bottom of whatever is going on with her if she shows up for lunch tomorrow!"

"Honey, would it make you feel any better if I run a check on Mandy at school tomorrow?" asked Ross. "I can see if she has been going to class, how well she's doing and all of that kind of stuff."

"Would you mind?" asked Rachel. "I would really like to know if she's doing well in school because she hasn't mentioned a single class to me. All I've heard about is her sorority and Chris."

"I don't mind at all. I'll call you in the morning before you go to lunch and let you know what I find out."

Ross's jaw almost hit the floor when he ran a check on Mandy the next morning. She had been skipping almost all of her classes and appeared to be failing all of them. He hated to call and tell Rachel because he knew it would stress her out even more and that was the last thing she needed at five months pregnant, but he had to.

After she got off the phone with Ross, Rachel could almost feel her blood boiling. She was so mad at Mandy. Mandy was well on her way to destroying her future, all because of a boy and a few friends. Rachel had never been so furious in her entire life. She just hoped Mandy showed up for lunch because she would be getting a piece of her mind.

Mandy really didn't want to go meet Rachel for lunch, but decided that she probably should. She felt so guilty for forgetting to pick Emma up from school the day before. After class, she and Chris had just been hanging out and she lost track of the time. It was after six before she even remembered her little sister. Mandy knew Rachel was probably going to blow a gasket, but Mandy thought that she deserved it. What kind of person hurts their little sister like that? Rachel was already sitting at a table in the deli when Mandy walked in.

"Sit down, right now," Rachel curtly said. "What in the hell is wrong with you! You forget to pick your little sister up from school, you skip class all the time, and you're failing all of your classes! What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm sorry about Emma, and how in the world did you know about all of that other stuff?" asked Mandy.

"Ross checked it out for me," answered Rachel.

"How dare you! That is an invasion of my privacy. What next? Are you going to call the doctor to see if I'm having sex or not?" Mandy yelled.

"Well, I hadn't thought about that, but since you brought it up, are you?" asked Rachel.

"No, not yet, but I think I'm almost ready," Mandy retorted back.

"You think you're responsible enough to have an adult relationship!" exclaimed Rachel. "You're not even responsible enough to pick your little sister up from school!"

"Like you're one to talk, at least I'm in love with the guy I'm going to have sex with and not………" Mandy stopped talking as Rachel's face turned really white.

"Owwwww!" screamed Rachel as she grabbed her stomach.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" asked Mandy, all of the anger suddenly gone from her voice.

"I don't know ," said Rachel as she tried to hold back another scream," but I think we better get to the hospital, now!"

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